


what makes you alive

by ojinxx



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Because of Reasons, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/No Comfort, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Character Death, I’m screaming, LIKE A LOT OF ANGST, Misunderstandings, More characters to come, Multiple Universes, No Smut, Past Character Death, Robot AU, Sad Sugawara Koushi, Slow Burn, Suga rights, Sugawara Koushi-centric, Suga’s a robot?, Temporary Character Death, Why Did I Write This?, Why would I write this, Why?, Yes I know most of these aren’t tags, also, because I am child, because I said so, because I’m mean, daisuga - Freeform, friends - Freeform, i dont even know, let him be human pls, like 10 different subplots, look I’m only two chapters in i don’t have it worked out yet, maybe even a kiss or two, more tags to come, oikawa and Kuroo get on like a house on fire, stan Suga, the kagehina hug we have all been wanting, volleyball children, why does life hate me, yamaguchi is captain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ojinxx/pseuds/ojinxx
Summary: what makes you alive?no one truely knows.Sugawara definitely doesn’t, after all, he’s not even a real human.but what if life wasn’t determined by how you came to be and your form, but instead on who you are? nah, that would be silly.but if Suga /could/ be alive, how would he achieve it?Aka, the Suga is a robot fic that literally no one asked for :)
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Oikawa Tooru/Sugawara Koushi, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 24
Kudos: 44





	1. It’s late

**Author's Note:**

> So uh welcome! Basically I wrote the story I wanted to read.  
> I really hope you enjoy, and stay to see what happens!

Sugawara Koushi (SUGA) is functional.  
~  
It had been a long morning for Sawamura Daichi. Karagora University was known for its gruelling work load, but today was worse than it usually was.  
First of all, Kuroo woke him up at 3am to go down to the store to buy more ‘fairy flavoured’ cereal. Why he needed it at 3 in the fucking morning, Daichi didn’t know, but it was Kuroo, what did he expect? That set him off in a bad mood, not because he isn’t a morning person (he is), but because who wouldn’t be pissed if an insomniac like Kuroo decided he needed a cereal buddy at such ungodly times. So yeah, not good.

Second of all, he had a test at 8am. Usually no problem; Daichi was a diligent student, his teachers liked him, and he got decent grades. Except he wasn’t quite able to study for it as Oikawa insisted on watching a space documentary the night before, so Daichi barely had time to study. Damn that astronomy student.  
So he didn't think he did quite as well on the test as he wanted.

Thirdly, he wasn’t able to get lunch. Ukai’s store on campus was well known for its convenience and good food. This time around he was let down. There was a huge line into the store, it was almost as if every student was out and about and had all decided that Ukai’s shop, out of the other seven, was the place to be. When he finally got in (what? He doesn’t trust the other stores' food), they were out of meat buns. God. Fucking. Dammit. Hinata would be sobbing if he was in this situation. Good thing the orange ball of energy was still in high school.

Daichi sighed. All he wanted was a meat bun. He needed the energy if he was going to do all that evening cramming if that test went as badly as he thought it did. After all, if he did bad on one test, he would have to do extra work on the next one.

He sat just outside of the small, humble shop, watching the students and lecturers strolling pass, on their way to their next pass time. He saw a few students rushing to make their classes, and a few who had clearly only just woken up. He waved at Kenma, who was still wearing his pyjamas underneath Kuroo's hoodie. Damn them and their cuteness. If only he had someone to lend hoodies to.

As he sat there, he heard Ukai walk out of the shop, and sit next to him. Passing him a meat bun, Ukai gave him a once over before asking him what he was doing just sitting outside.

“Well I don't want to go back to the dorm because Kuroo and Bo don't have class today, and I think we both know what happens when those two are bored, and I want to delay studying as much as possible. So I’m just going to chill here for a while if that’s alright?”

“As much as I love having you moping around my store and putting off customers, there are plenty other things to do. You have friends in the robotics department right? I heard they’re activating the AI today, its live online for students to watch but it would be cooler to see it in person,”

“Wait what? I thought it wouldn’t be done till the end of the month?”

“Yeah that’s what everyone thought, but apparently the workers really buckled down on the work for it, and got him finished super fast, that’s why there are so many people out, everyone’s excited.”

And with a quick thanks for the bun, and a goodbye, Daichi was off again.

The new AI had been a huge thing for the uni due to the robotics department making huge technical breakthroughs a year ago, and the department had started working on the first functional self-aware robot. It became an extra credit program for the students at the uni. Hearing about the students putting in extra time to get it done quickly explained Kenma’s odder than normal sleep schedule, and Kuroo’s recent odd lack of energy, as they where both big parts of the project, with Kuroo helping with construction and engineering, Kenma doing the bulk of the coding and Akaashi doing the visual design. The AI was practically their child due to the amount of time and effort they put into the thing.

As he got to the robotics department, he saw a decent group of people standing outside, clearly wanting to get a look. Luckily Daichi had friends on the inside, and texted Kenma, who always had his phone on him. A minute later, he got a text back telling him to come round the back entrance. Daichi had been in this building enough times (usually to give Kuroo a coffee or a soda that Kuroo had begged for) to know where the back door was. As he got to the back, he saw kenma gesturing for him to hurry. Odd, Kenma was never the type to rush. As he stepped inside the garage like area, he saw multiple students and professors hanging around. He waved and said hi to a few that he knew. And had a quick conversation with Takeda to rectify his test, before Kenma practically dragged him to the presentation area.

“Kenma, why are you in such a hurry?”

“Because if we don't, then you’re going to miss something cool. You’re lucky you have friends in the main production team, because most are only going to see the livestream or the news broadcast.”

“I think that is the most I’ve heard you speak at once.”

“Shut up, I haven't slept in 5 days. All because Kuroo wanted it to be done faster.”

“You love him.”

“Fine.”

As they rounded into a construction room, Daichi saw why Kenma was in a rush.

Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi, Iwaizumi, Oikawa and Ushijima were all already there. He thought Kuroo and Bokuto didn't have anything to do today. That explains the cereal. He smiled at Akaashi, who nodded politely back. Akaashi, Kenma and Kuroo were all on the main production team, and the AI would contribute to their thesis’. Guess Ushijima, Oikawa and Bokuto had the same idea as him; to use connections to get in.

He joined the group, and noticed that for once, Oikawa, Kuroo and Bokuto were quiet. Something very rare in their group. He finally noticed what they were all looking at.

Through a window into another room, they could see a guy lying down on a table/dentist chair thing. He was wearing a plain shirt and pants, and had silver hair and pale skin. He wasn’t moving, and now that Daichi looked a little closer, he wasn’t breathing either. His face was flat, and expressionless, and was rather…...pretty.

Daichi realized with a start that that was the AI. The robot. The android that had caused the occupants of the university to go feral. They were, after all, making history.

“This is the final activation. We’ve had a few other activation tests that have gone wrong. This time it’s waking up. For good hopefully,” Kuroo murmured softly, his face only on the body through the window.

“It already has his memory card in.” Kenma muttered, his cat like eyes fixed on the silver haired beauty.

“You did a good job with the design, Akaashi-san.”

“Thanks Ushijima-san.”

“Don’t thank him, he's a jerk. But he’s right, a lovely job Aka-chan, although not quite as pretty as me.”

“Shut up Oikawa”

“So mean Iwa-chan!”

“Shh. It’s happening.”

At Kenma’s words, everyone redirected their focus back onto the body.  
Kenma moved to a laptop in front of the window, and typed on it quickly, activating the robot and starting the stream, and then stepped back to the group. The other people in the room watched silently as the robot’s eyes slowly fluttered open.  
It blinked about 5 times before sitting up sharply, and bringing its hands up in front of it. It’s eyebrows furrowed as it followed its hands, to its elbow and tracing it to its torso. It’s eyes light up in recognition, and slight apprehension.

Daichi couldn’t tear his eyes away from the android who was examining its body with slight confusion as it left the chair and put its arms on its face, and through its hair.  
Kenma stepped forward again, this time to a little mic next to the computer. 

“Please introduce yourself.”

The robot looked up, only now realizing it had an audience. It looked at the people on the other side of the glass.

“Hi there, my name is Sugawara Koushi. Suga for short. I was designed and created by the occupants of Karagora University, and am the first self-aware AI to be created. I was designed to learn and process knowledge,” It said, in a soft, hypnotic voice.

Daichi liked that voice.

“Please run a diagnostic.”

“All functions are normal.”

“Commence test 1 through 5”

“Sure,” it said, as it rolled all of its joints.

It made a few facial expressions, and hummed. It also spoke in a few different languages and smiled at Kenma.

“Thank you Suga. We will let you in in a few minutes.”

“No worries.” It said with a soft yet empty voice.

After a few more tests, and the other people watching had left, it was only the small group of friends.  
They moved Suga into the main room to do a test on conversation after most had left.

“Would any of you like to speak to him?” Kenma asked, turning to face the group.

“I would! Hi Suga, I’m Oikawa and I have to say you are just so pretty and-“

“Oink-awa you’re going to overwhelm it.”

“Iwaaaaaa!”

“I will be fine. Complex conversations are something I’ve been programmed in. Also the more time I spend around people, the more realistic I become.”

“What?! Really?! That’s so cool! Agaaashi did you hear that?!”

“I did, Bokuto-san.”

Suga smiled at this exchange, his head tilting slightly.

“You two are close, correct?”

“Yeah! Me and Agassshi have been dating since high school!”

“Akaashi and I, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said with a fond smile

“How sweet.” Suga said, a soft smile on its face and a small tilt to its head.

“Okay so to help Suga, can everyone introduce yourself?” Kenma said.

(Suga POV)

It looked around at the people in front of it, and documented the appearances. It already had an idea of who was who, due to names being mentioned earlier. Oinkawa was that one, and Bokuto was the one with the odd hair, and Akaashi was the one who Bokuto was clinging to. It already knew who Kenma and Kuroo were, but it didn’t know who the other three were. They had talked, but their names hadn’t been mentioned. A few of them reintroduced themselfs, although oinkawa was still sulking.

“I’m Ushijima Wakatoshi. You really are a breakthrough in robotics. I am grateful to have been here.”

Suga smiled. It could already tell what kind of person Ushijima-san was. It also appeared that Oinkawa and him had a one sided hostile relationship, with Oinkawa disliking Ushijima quite a bit. If their one sided bickering said anything.

“Hi, I’m Iwaizumi Hajime, it's nice to meet you Suga.”

Straight to the point. Suga turned towards the last person, and tilted its head. So far it couldn’t tell anything about this person, but if Suga were to guess, he would say that he is the ‘adult’ in the group, and along with Akaashi, Kenma, Ushijima and Iwaizumi, were the mature ones. Although Kenma wasn’t actually very mature, he just had an introverted personality.

The third guy looked at it, as if he only now realized it was his turn. It didnt know why, but Suga could feel it’s cheeks heat up. Is that normal? Should he talk with Kuroo about whether an overheated face was a malfunction and should be fixed? But Suga found it almost liked the feeling that went along with it’s now, slightly warmer, face. 

“Oh! U-um hi? I’m Daichi, Sawamura Daichi, but uh call me Daichi. It’s nice to meet you Suga.”

Dai-chi  
Suga found he- found it rather liked the name. And the voice that went with it was rather nice too. Maybe he wouldn’t talk to Kuroo about this.

“H-hi Daichi-“

“- An-and um Iwaizumi-san and Ushijima-san. Thank you for coming to see me, everyone.”

“Hey Suga, are you functioning alright? Your face looks a little red, are you overheated?”

“I-I’m fine Kuroo-san, just a little overloaded.”

Suga headed to the room he woke up in, before Oinkawa grabbed its shoulder.

“Hey, you wanna chill with us for a while? Before you head back to your station?”

“W-what?” It said, surprised.

“Yeah! You know you’re allowed to have friends right? You’re more than a robot, you’re an AI, you should get to experience new things. You’re more human than a robot!” Kuroo said grinning at Suga

“H-human? Are you sure I can go with you all?”

A series of positive responses filled the air.

“You know, you’re really pretty Suga, Akaashi did a good job on your design!”

Suga’s face heated up again. It believes in human terms, it was called a ‘blush’.

“Thank you, you are rather pretty yourself Oinkawa-san.”

Iwaizumi burst out laughing, Kuroo let out an unholy cackle, Kenma and Akaashi smirked, and Daichi chuckled.

“OINK-AWA????!!!!!!” Oinkawa screeched.

“Yes, is that not your name? Earlier Iwaizumi said ‘Oinkawa’ when referring to you? Was that incorrect?”

Suga jumped when Oinkawa screeched again, yelling at Iwaizumi about “doing it on purpose”. Suga still had no idea what was wrong, and within the chaos, it failed to notice Daichi slide next to it, and whisper,

“His name’s Oik-awa, Iwaizumi just calls him Oink-awa to annoy him.”

“O-oh, thank you. Should i apologise to Oikawa-san?”  
Daichi chuckled 

“Nah don't bother. It’s pretty funny and Oikawa’s not actually offended.”

“Thank you Daichi,” Suga smiled.

It missed the small blush forming on Daichi’s face.

~


	2. Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So uh just some interactions between the characters. Basically the Suga goes on a tour in a disguise and thinks about what it would be like to be human! Thanks for those who are still reading! Hope you like it :)

Akaashi looked over at Suga. He smiled. He had put so much work into it and was glad that it paid off.

As he looked at Suga, he noticed how it seemed slightly unsettled and a little bit overwhelmed. It was standing away from the overall group, as if it didn’t quite know how to fit in. 

Akaashi sighed, that was to be expected. Suga had only just been activated, of course it felt overwhelmed. Suga was designed to collect and store social information, it wasn’t built knowing. It was built to be kind of like, a human.

It hadn’t learned much yet, so of course it didn’t know how to act. After listening to Daichi’s introduction, Suga had picked up a slight stutter. It was attempting to replicate the people in the group. At least that was what Akaashi guessed was happening. Kenma would understand it better. But there was a small change, if there even was a chance, that Sugawara Koushi was not replicating the group, and instead, it was developing its own feelings. But, Akaashi reassured himself, there was no way it could.

….

Could it?

He noticed that Kuroo had moved from the group to him, and was gazing at Suga.

“It seems nervous, yeah?”

“It does seem rather overwhelmed. Maybe we shouldn’t take it out, slowly introduce it to society in a controlled environment.”

“Nah, we want it to face the world like a human, head on. But I see where you’re coming from. With all the attention on it at the moment, having large amounts of people staring at it would be way to much,” Kuroo murmured 

“Hey wait! Maybe we could, like put him in a disguise? That could work, no one would recognise it. It would make it easier on the poor thing!” He said, giving Akaashi a megawatt smile.

That could actually work. Akaashi did have some stuff in storage at this building. As he was a design and art student, who helped out with the other departments a lot, he had supply’s all over campus, one being just down the hall in one of the student storage sheds.

“Yeah, good idea. I’ll grab some stuff now. Keep an eye on Suga.”

And with that, Akaashi darted from the room, and made his way to the sheds.

Once he had got there, he unlocked the shed labeled ‘Akaashi’, and stepped inside and went to the clothing area. 

Akaashi had a lot of accessories and clothes in here, due to the fact that when he did the scale proportion model, he needed clothes. He turned to look at the wire model, that was one of the first steps towards building Suga. It had all his proportions and measurements, and all the wearable stuff in this room fitted the model, so it would fit Suga as well. He still remembered presenting the simple wire frame to the production team, and their looks of confusion. That wire frame ended up being the very basis of Suga.

He rooted through the clothes to find stuff to disguise Sugawara. Suga’s most notable features were its white hair, smile and small black mole. And it's plain white clothes.  
Akaashi came across a pair of circle glasses, that would distract from the mole (his), a Karasuno cap (Daichi’s), a black medical mask (Kenma’s), and some of Oikawa’s ‘donated clothes’ that Akaashi had resized to fit the wire base. And with that, went to return to his friends.

Once he got there, it was obvious that the rest of the group still didn’t know the ‘disguise Suga plan’, and Kuroo was now betting with Oikawa how many tortilla rolls Bokuto could fit in his mouth. The betting pool was getting over 50$ in value, and if the way that Kenma and Ushijima was staring intently, it appeared that they would be making bets as well. Iwaizumi and Daichi were having some conversation about law, and Akaashi was surprised that none of them (except Kuroo) had noticed Suga’s awkwardness.

Akaashi rolled his eyes and tapped Suga’s wrist and pulled him out of the room into a spare next door. Suga looked at him, asking why it was needed.  
Akaashi places the clothes into Suga’s arms.

“Here, you can get around without having so much attention on you.”

“O- oh, thank you Akaashi-san.”

Akaashi watched as Suga looked down at the garments, and he left the room to stand outside of the door while Suga changed.

“Just tell me when you’re ready for me to come in.”

“Thank you Akaashi-san, you’re really kind.”

“Oh you can drop the san, Suga, it’s alright.”

“Thanks A-Akaashi.”

He stood there for a few more minutes, before Suga opened the door, letting Akaashi get a look at him. Suga wiped its eyes, before giving a small spin to show the clothes off.

“Wow, you look good like that Suga,”

(Sugawara POV)

It stared at the garments that Akaashi had just placed into his arms. It was thankful for him taking it from the room, as the bets on tortilla wraps were getting hard to listen to. It was obvious that Bokuto could fit exactly 15, judging by the width and the space in Bokuto’s mouth. 

The garments were nice, soft. The medical mask was functional, and the glasses didn’t distort its vision much. The clothes were what it assumed was in fashion, the graphic shirt having a stock picture of ET, and the pants having a beige plaid print.  
The item that caught his attention the most.  
A cap.

The cap was a SnapBack, which was black, with orange on the underside of the cap part. It had a small logo on it, of what appeared to be a crow, in an orange circle, with the word ‘fly’ written in delicate kanji on the back of the hat. The cap seemed familiar to Suga, and made an odd sense of deja vu and nostalgia settle in its throat.  
It scanned the logo, hoping to find out where the hat is from.  
After analysing it, and running it through its online system, it determined that it was a hat from karasuno high school. A high school located in Miyagi. In fact, the hat was from their volleyball club, which after doing some quick researching, was currently a powerhouse school, after they made it to nationals two years ago.

A few tears leaked from its eyes. It didn’t know why, but it felt a sense of loss.  
It pictured the team that had gone to nationals a while ago. It had no idea what or who the people on that team were, but he pictured a family. A small redhead, a shy intimidating person, a tall blond, an angry guy with a buzz cut. A reliable captain.

It brushed it off- no use thinking up fantasies- And went to the door, wiped its eyes, before stepping out to see Akaashi, who told it it was a good look.

(Kuroo POV)

Kuroo grinned. He had bet a hefty amount on Bokuto’s mouth. Which now that he thought about it, was a very weird sentence. Oh well. He looked at the group, at this point, just about everyone had placed a bet, and there was now over 100$ on the line. But Kuroo trusted his bet of 16. He knew Bo better than anyone, except maybe Akaashi. That reminded him, Suga and Akaashi should be back soon. He was thinking about Kenma’s bet of 15 (lame, bokuto could fit an extra one), when from the corner of his eyes he saw two silhouettes.

He turned to look at the two as they entered the room again. Perfect timing. His eyes drifted to Suga, who unsurprisingly, looked good. Really good. Akaashi had good taste. He recognised some of the garments though, was that? Kenma’s mask? Oh god it was! How did Akaashi get that? Now that he thought about it they had all lost a few things here and there. Had Akaashi taken them to add to his collections?

Kuroo didn't know if he was flattered or mock pissed.

Everyone in the room turned to the two who had just entered the room. They didn't even notice they were gone.

Kuroo smirked as Kenma's eyes lit up in realization, and gave Akaashi a look. Akaashi shrugged as if to say ‘you weren’t using it’, after all, Kenma did have others.  
Kuroo looked at Suga again. Suga was rather pretty.

“Are we good to go?” Akaashi spoke, a small smirk forming on his face due to the comments about how nice Suga looked.

A chorus of yes’ filled the air, with a loud confirmation from the more rowdy members of the group. And with that, they went off for Suga’s first interaction with the outside world.

—————————————————————————————————————

It was a nice afternoon to be going out, and all the friends were luckily free for the day. Suga looked around wide eyed, clearly trying to take in the world. It looked happy. Kuroo smiled, he was glad it was enjoying itself.

They walked around the campus, showing the different areas to suga, and thanks to Akaashi’s disguise, no one bothered them.

They stopped at the river, a small thing that passed through some of the campus. It was just wide enough to have to leap to get over it, but due to kuroo height, it would be pretty easy to cross. But instead of crossing, they all agreed to have a break.

They snacked on some of Bokuto’s snacks. (Seriously, the guy always. Has. Food. On. Him.) and got to talking.

It first started with going through the bets, with everyone except Suga having placed a bet. They had told Suga that it could, but Suga had decided that it would be unfair as it could very accurately estimate the amount of tortillas. Suga already knew that Kenma would win, but it decided it would be more fun if it didn't tell the others that while they could still withdraw. But eventually the topic got to high school.

It appeared that Kenma and Kuroo had gone to the same high school, and had been friends since they were kids. Akaashi and Bokuto had also gone to the same high school, Fukurodani, and met when Akaashi was a first year student. Ushijima went to a school called Shiratorizawa, and had other friends from Shiratorizawa at this university. Oikawa and Iwaizumi went to Aoba Johsai, and apparently Oikawa and Kuroo, who acted like they had never been apart, had never met in person till starting uni. They had been in group chats together, and had links to each other, but hadn’t actually met face to face. This surprised Suga more than it would admit.

“So where did you go Daichi-san?” Suga said, smiling

“Oh, I went to Karasuno. A few of my friends from Karasuno go here as well. Aoba Johsai, Karasuno and Shiratorizawa were all in the same area, so we all kinda knew each other.”

“What about Nekoma and Fukurodani?”

“Well, Karasuno did have ties to Nekoma, but our teams didn’t meet until our third year, and Shiratorizawa went to nationals a lot so they were familiar with Fukurodani. However Karasuno, Nekoma, and Fukurodani had training camps together, so we knew Bokuto’s group better.”

“Woah, you guys have all been interconnected since high school havent you?”

“Yeah, we all kinda became a group through group chats, and since we all somehow went to the same university, it stuck.”

Suga smiled. They all stuck together so well, and had bonds that appeared unbreakable.  
Except Suga. It really did have no reason to be intruding on the group of friends, why would they want some silly fake person hanging around with them? Suga legitimately did not know why they were including it. 

Suga shut down that train of thought as quickly as possible. Those sort of thoughts would lead to viruses and malfunctions. It was sure of it.  
————————————————————————————————————-

They eventually left the river, and continued the ‘tour’. Suga learned that Akaashi had supply’s everywhere, and was very active on campus, and that Ushijima really was that blunt. 

As they strolled through the area, with the slowly dimming sun shining ahead, Suga felt peaceful, and smiled softly.  
It had learned so much. It was all Suga could ask for for its first day.

For just a moment, Suga wondered what it would like to be part of the group. To be human.

To be alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little thing to pay attention to- the way the other characters refer to Sugawara. As in, if they use ‘it’ or ‘he’. Thank you so much for reading! I’m having a lot of fun writing this, and a huge thanks to Charlotte for correcting any errors! There would be so many mistakes without your help! :)
> 
> The song is exploration from coraline, by Amy Turk and Julia K


	3. Do you wonder?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was annoying to write.   
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> I really want to get started on the plot, but i want to build the characters and the world first so uh :(

Ukai watched the sun rise. He always complained about having to get up early, but the way he insisted on being open at 5 am sharp did not support that.

He brought a cigarette to his mouth, inhaled and let the white smoke waft into the cool morning air. He really had to try harder at quitting.

The sky was painted in soft oranges and warm swirly pinks. Small yellow tinted clouds drifted lazily across the picturesque sky.

Ukai leaned against the metal railing outside the shop, and watched the early birds wandering around, most likely seriously regretting their choice to choose an early class, and maybe considering dropping out just to avoid the early start. He himself had done that when he was in college.  
He smiled at the tired night class students, who had just gotten out of class or wherever they spent their nights. They had absolutely no concept of time anymore and would, most likely, sleep until they had their next class. He looked directly at the pudding head, Kenma, who definitely fit that description. They had become sort of friends since Kenma had been enrolled, bonding over their odd sleeping habits and love for coding.  
And there was the other group who was up at this time. The early risers who insisted on being productive at such a time. He waved at the person who was the pinnacle of early riser, Daichi, who was on his morning run.

Ukai thought back on the days that weren’t like this. Good, but different.  
A life he had long since given up on. His robotics books now layered with dust somewhere above the store in his apartment-like residence. It was easier to get to work when you lived just above it.

It’s not that he regrets his decision, he had always known that he would eventually have to leave the life and career he built for himself behind. He loved his grandpa too much to just abandon him when he needed him the most. He may be a lot of things but selfish wasn’t one of them. He knew that it wasn’t quite selfish to choose his life over someone else’s, but it's something he chose. And that’s what really mattered.

His grandpa had run a successful business, so at least it wasn't like Ukai was a riches to rags tale. But it wasn’t the money that made the decision easy.

He thought about the robot, Suga. He hadn’t actually seen him yet, but he hoped he would visit the store some time.  
Ukai himself was fascinated with Suga, and the way Suga came to be. If only he could’ve been more help.

And with that he ended his inner monologue and went inside the store, and with a flick of an open/closed sign, a small flood of students walked in to buy their cheap and unhealthy breakfast.  
—————————————————————————————————————  
/The night before/

As the sun set, the group walked back to the robotics department to return Suga.  
Suga went to it’s small makeshift ‘room’, and slipped into the small space, and lay there, savouring the experiences it got to have.

The boys all left after Suga had entered its room, and returned to their respective dorms. They all lived in the same building in a shared house of sorts, as most of them were in their second year and they could choose who to live with.  
Oikawa, Iwaizumi, bokuto, Akaashi and Asahi stayed in the upstairs unit,  
With Daichi, Ushijima, Kuroo, Kenma and Terushima staying in the ground level.   
Asahi was still in his room, working on his design project that had been taking all his time recently, and Terushima was vibing in the kitchen, sitting on the table eating what appeared to be his 6th bowl of rainbow cereal.

“Hey you asswipe that’s my cereal!” Kuroo yelled, affronted when he entered the kitchen  
“Bruh, you know if you leave cereal behind, i will eat it.”  
“Still, Daichi paid for that shit, and if I start craving it I will end up annoying him and then we’ll both be in trouble. And I’m not gonna back you up on that shit”

Terushima’s face paled. They all knew what happened when Daichi was mad.  
He hastily poured the cereal in his bowl back into the box

“Dude!”  
“Don’t worry i didn't have it with milk!”  
“That’s even worse! You can't have cereal without milk!”  
“Who’s gonna tell him about the red bull cereal mix oikawa did a few days ago?” Kenma muttered as he walked by.  
“Oh shit.”   
“OIKAWA WHAT THE FRICK FRACK PADDY WHACK SNICK SNACK”  
“Oh shit oh shit oh shit KENMA WHY DID YOU TELL HIM! I ONLY DID IT BECAUSE I HAD AN ESSAY DUE AND NEEDED ENERGY KUROO PLEASE!”  
Oikawa yelled as he sprinted out of the kitchen and into the living room to hide behind Iwaizumi.  
“What the hell was that Kuroo? Just say fuck.”  
“oh that? I made a bet with Kuroo that whoever swore first would get 10 bucks”  
Asahi said as he entered the kitchen.  
“He literally said shit, like 40 seconds ago”  
“Kuroo you owe Asahi 10 bucks” Kenma called in the direction of the living room.

Vague screaming reached the kitchen.  
Akaashi walked out, looking vaguely traumatised , as he, iwaizumi and ushijima were chilling in there when Oikawa ran in and brought the wrath of Kuroo with him

“What’s even the big deal? It’s just red bull cereal?”  
“Akaashi, you’ve known Kuroo since middle school. You know howhe is when it comes to cereal.”   
“Yeah I had bruises from the last timeI did cereal, milk and then bowl.”  
Everyone who was present for Bokuto’s comment swiveled to look at him incredulously.  
“Sweety, how did you do the bowl last?”  
“Oh! Well I got the cereal, put in the milk - i'm not a monster, milk goes after cereal- and then got the bowl.”

No one asked any other questions.

Iwaizumi entered the kitchen.

It went quiet.

“Wait, weren’t you protecting oikawa from Kuroo?” Terushima broke the silence

“I yeeted him at Kuroo.”

“Chef kiss Iwaizumi, c h e f k i s s.” Kenma muttered.

Iwaizumi high fived Kenma as he went upstairs, and as Kenma turned around to go to his room, he yelled.

“Kuroo, if you're not done bashing Tooru I swear to the cereal gods I will tell the housing people that you have no less that 3 cats in this house.”

Everyone knew that he was talking about Sprinkles, Putin and Cheddar. And possibly the other nameless cats that they all saw wandering around the building. The thing with the cats was that it wasn’t actually Kuroo who attracted them, it was Kenma. Kuroo just gave them names and gave food to the Miriad of cats that now just freely come in and out of the house. Everyone except Kuroo knew that it was an empty threat, Kenma loved those cats more than anything, even though he acted like they were just a bother.

Kuroo came sprinting out, taking Kenma’s threat deadly seriously.  
“KENMA PLEASE DON'T TELL THEM- I'LL BUY YOU THAT NEW GAME YOU WANTED IF YOU PROMISE NOT TO TELL THEM!” 

And with that, the house began to quiet.

—————————————————————————————————————

Daichi woke up at around 5, as usual, to get ready for the day and have a jog.  
He showered, ate and by 5:30 he was ready to leave the house.

As he walked past Kenma and Kuroo’s room, he noticed a yellow sticky note on the door.

‘Please pick up the rainbow cereal while your out Daichi W_- - kurowo’

Daichi glared at the door. And the stupid little emoji Kuroo used to identify himself. He wasn’t even going to acknowledge the Kur-owo thing cause all that would do was inspire a hefty amount of rage.

He left, actively deciding not to buy the cereal Kuroo was obsessed with. Oikawa had told them all that when he had walked into Kuroo’s room, there was a cereal pentagram shrine thing that had a cereal box as the focus. At first they all laughed at him. Kenma refused to confirm or deny its existence. Daichi was starting to believe Oikawa’s somewhat frightening tale with just how obsessed Kuroo was with his goddamn cereal. He would really rather not encourage Kuroo’s obsession. 

He left the building and stepped into the cold morning. His breath came out in small white puffs, and reminded him of his primary school self pretending to be smoking on days like this. He chuckled at the thought.

He put in his earbuds, and blasted some catchy low-fi music through them to keep him grounded as he began his run.

The sky was painted in gold and orange hues, like the sky from a renaissance painting, as small yellow tinted clouds drifted sluggishly across the sky. He couldn’t help but empathise with the seemingly tired and sleepy clouds.

He jogged past Sakanoshita store, and waved at Ukai, who was just standing at the railing, watching the sky. For a moment he considered getting a meat bun right then and there, if the growls in his stomach said anything, but he decided that would just push him out of the zone and he didn't want that. Maybe after the run he would get a bag of pork buns, but not right now.

As the gravel crunched under his heel, he thought back on high school.  
The sheer joy of nationals. Standing by his friends as they played match after match. Hinata at a leaping higher than he ever had. He smiled. Hinata would go far. He was aiming to become a professional volleyball player, and seeing him in his third year made Daichi certain that he could achieve that dream.

Before he knew it, he was at the robotics department. Which was pretty normal, as he ran by it each time he had his run. It didn't used to be part of the route, but Kuroo, who was usually up earlier than he was, spent a lot of his mornings working on Suga before class, and Daichi would usually bring Kuroo and Kenma food or coffee. But this time there was no need. Suga was, for the most part, finished. They could rest a little more now.

“So, tell me about it.”

He quickly looked back to the building when he heard the voice, and was surprised to see Kiyoko of all people standing to the side of the building, sipping a coffee and holding a small brown paper bag.

“I don’t know. Should it even be possible? I mean, was i even programmed that way?”

He then noticed the person Kiyoko was speaking with. Sugawara. He looked at the two. 

“Suga. You need to tell me what you saw. I am here for situations like this. You can trust me Suga. I know you.”

Daichi frowned. ‘Know you’? As far as he was aware, Kiyoko hadn’t even met Suga yet. How could she know Suga? It only came online yesterday.

“Thanks Kiyoko-san. It was um weird I guess. I didn’t think I’d be able to do something like that. I shouldn’t be able to. I dont really know anymore. Should we tell Kenma so we can get it fixed or just, not?”

“Once again Suga, you can drop the -san. I want to be friends, not just someone you have to talk to. And what do you think? You don’t have to get it ‘fixed’ if you don’t want to. It’s your decision. You were built to make decisions, so here’s your first major one. And Kenma probably should know, but i think he’ll think of this the same way as me. He won’t make any adjustments unless you ask.”

“Ummmmm”

Kiyoko and Suga spun around and turned to face Daichi. Surprise written on Suga’s face and a curious look from Kiyoko.

“Y-you heard all of that?”  
Suga said, it’s eyes wide.

“Not really.”

“When did you start listening?”  
Kiyoko said in a no judgement tone. She seemed just genuinely curious to know.

“Since the ‘tell me about it’?”

“Oh so that’s why you look so confused. Don’t worry, not talking about anything too sensitive.”

“O-oh,”

“Suga will tell you if he wants to.”

“Um ok?”

“Ill be leaving now. Suga, please be back by 9am. We need to finish this discussion.”

Kiyoko walked into the building.  
Daichi looked at Suga.

“Can we just walk for now?”

“Sure.”

As they walked, Suga admired the sky. It had never thought the sky could look so pretty. He watched Daichi, and noticed the small white puffs of air. Suga frowned and looked to see if there where white puffs in front of him. There weren’t. Suga thought for a moment. Should Daichi be able to do that? Was it allowed? Why couldn’t he do that as well?

“Hey Daichi?”

“Yeah Suga?”

“What is with the weird white puffs coming from your mouth?”

Daichi looked at Suga, and blinked a few times, surprised. Did Suga not know?

“Oh uh, its my breath. When you breathe and its really cold, you can see your breath.”

“Really? That’s so weird! Can i do it too?”

“Actually yeah, you might be able to. Just, breathe in and out strongly, and breathe with your mouth.”

“O-okay! I’ll give it a go!”

Suga began trying to replicate heavy breathing. Suga could breathe, but breathed very lightly, just enough to appear like it was actually breathing.   
Suga began taking huge breathes, over exaggerating the heavy breathing look. And began to exhale loudly. His cheeks puffed up with the effort, and a flush spread across his cheeks from the energy he was using to breathe. 

A small white puff appeared in front of him, and drifted up into the air before it disappeared.

Suga gasped, and stood up straight again and clapped gleefully. Not noticing that steady puffs of white fell from his mouth as he panted from the amount of work he put in.

Daichi doubled over and laughed. Suga looked so funny trying to breathe. Suga looked to him, a happy smile on his face.

“What? Was i doing it wrong?”   
Suga said with a face that showed that he knew exactly how ridiculous he looked.

“You know, now that you’re out of breath, they are appearing naturally.”

Suga looked in front of himself with a start, and gasped as he saw more small white puffs in front of him. He giggled. An unrestrained giggle that had his nose scrunched up and his eyes squinted.

Daichi smiled. Suga looked happy. But this time, it seemed legitimate. All of Suga’s ‘happiness’ before had seemed, fake. But the look on Suga’s face. It was actual happiness. It wasn’t perfect, like all of his other smiles. It was imperfect. Had faults.

Maybe that’s what made it so beautiful.

Daichi raised his fingers to his mouth, as he pretended to take an inhale between his fingers, and blew out a breath of white mist.  
‘Smoking.’

Suga laughed and smiled.

Until the inevitable happened.

“So uh what were you doing with Kiyoko?”

Suga looked at Daichi, a resigned look on its face.

“Oh, well, Kiyoko-san is a psychology student, and apparently I am an interesting subject, due to the fact that I am artificial, yet can still think. So I guess she gets to study me? She got permission from Kenma and I’m okay with it so uh we will be talking a lot?”

“Oh. Cool? But if you don’t mind, what were you two talking about?”

“Uhm, i have been having an issue that i didn’t foresee, and i thought i should tell her because, well I’m supposed to. I uh, I dreamed. And i don’t think that is normal, or that I’m supposed to be able to do that. And I wanted Kiyoko-san’s advice on the matter.”

Daichi was surprised. Dreams? That’s all? It sounded like something hugely important, and maybe it kind of was, but that certainly was not what he was expecting.

“So, what dreams were you having last night?”

“I dreamed that i lived a different life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! You made it!  
> The song for this chapter is Do you wonder By khai dreams. The line ‘And have you realized  
> It's always the same. This world is changing but the patterns stay the same.’ Is what made me choose the song! Also to the person that commented last chapter that maybe Suga had died in a traumatising way, and therefore everyone forgot him; that was actually one of my original idea’s for the plot before i began writing! It’s changed since then, but i’m Really impressed!


	4. Dream sweet in sea major

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry i couldn’t get this up last week!  
> This chapter is basically to set the scene for the plot :)

“Suga!”

A blurry orange haired figure stood in front of him. He lifted a hand and ruffled the fluffy orange hair.

“What’s wrong Hinata?” 

He heard himself ask.

“Kageyama’s being a jerk again! He won’t toss to me”

The boy pouted, and looked angrily behind him, where Suga could make out a tall black haired boy, who was looking away with his arms crossed.

Suga grinned, and found himself thinking that they were adorable.

“Hinata Boke!”  
The black haired boy yelled.

“See?!”  
“I can see Hinata, why don’t you practice with me for a bit until Kageyama cools off?”

Suga looked at the two. He didn’t know these people. What was he saying? Words were just falling from his mouth which he somehow had no control over. It was like he was trapped inside himself, no power over his scripted actions and words. The blurry scene he was in seemed to blur even more, and colours began to shift and change, until Suga couldn't make anything out.

As the colours seemed to organise and take shape, the blur suddenly sharpened into lifelike detail. Suga found himself sitting in what appeared to be a bedroom, which was decorated simply aside from a few details. He could make out posters on the wall, and the bedsheets seemed familiar. He noticed with a start, that he wasn’t alone in this extremely familiar place.

“Suga, what did you get for question 2?”

Suga looked up at the person in front of him, expecting an answer to flow from his mouth unwarranted like before, but nothing came out.

“W-what?”  
“Question 2. I got 34, do you think it’s right? You’re the math expert between us sugs.”

Suga looked at himself. He said what he had wanted. He found that for some reason, it felt like this was more real than the past dream.  
After being quiet for so long, the boy looked up at Suga.  
It was Daichi.

“Koushi?”

Suga looked into Daichi’s eyes.

Daichi’s eyes widened in surprise

“You’re not Suga.”

The world went blurry again, before settling into a light grey.

Suga floated in the endless grey, swirls of voices that he recognised surrounding him.  
They were calling, but Suga did not know what they were saying. He was screaming into a world that was not his own. What was his place? Where was his world? Was this even a dream anymore. He could feel the voices slipping away, until it was quiet. He could feel himself slowly but surely drifting away from the place that he was, the grey darkening into an emptiness that he had never known. Like he was drifting into deep space, clutching and reaching towards the tiny blue dot of existence that was nothing but a spec upon an empty universe. He could feel someone else, who was attached to him. Someone who knew who he was. Who he didn't want to forget, whom shouldn’t forget Sugawara. As he felt his grasp on existence slip, he called his last wish. He could only hope he would be heard. That someone, anyone, would hear his final stand

Don’t forget me.

I don’t want to be forgotten.

Please don’t leave me behind!

I will find you, in another place, another time.

Let me meet you again.

I promise I will.

Suga sat there, in the dim room, clutching his face. What? Was that a dream? That felt so real. It felt familiar in a way this world did not. He turned to the door, where one of the professors stood, who beckoned him to exit.

After going through some questions and diagnostics with the students and teachers, he was hailed over by a professor. Takeda, if he remembered correctly.

“Suga, we have decided to have you talk with one of the psych students, so we have a better understanding of your mind. She will be using the credit to put towards her PhD, which she’s working towards early due to her talent in the field. Is that all good for you?”

“Um, sure!”

“Alright, let’s get you to her.”

“What? Right now?”

“Well you should at least introduce yourself.”  
Takeda said with a friendly smile

The two of them moved into another room in the building, where a beautiful girl with long plaited black hair stood.

Suga looked at the girl, noting her glasses and the small mole, similar to Suga’s, on the corner of her mouth. She was very pretty.

She looked Suga in the eye and extended a hand, which suga took, a small blush falling over his face. This ephemeral being before him, just had to be some kind of Goddess!

“Shimuzu Kiyoko, pleased to meet you.”  
She said, giving him a kind smile and a brisk hand shake.

“I’m Sugawara Koushi, you can call me Suga. The pleasure is mine.”

Kiyoko smiled and nodded as their hands dropped.

“Would you like to go outside to grab some coffee? And possibly have a quick chat; nothing too serious, just to get to know each other?”

Suga noted that Kiyoko had a quiet strength and confidence in her. She seemed to know herself, and did not underestimate or overestimate herself, or anyone else he would find.

“I don’t need to drink or eat, but sure.”

The two strolled to one of the small cafes on campus, with Kiyoko leading the way, knowing and trusting the route, walking with a soft yet powerful stride that showed she had been along this path many times. Or maybe Kiyoko was just one of those people who seemed to have a deeper understanding of the world that most just didn't possess.

They eventually reached the cafe Kiyoko had mentioned, and without the hesitance that Suga had, Kiyoko strolled into the cafe and walked up to the register, where the barista stood.

“Just a latte and a pastry Semi.”

“Sure thing Yoko.”

Suga looked between the two as the Semi guy moved down the bench to the impressive coffee machine and chatted with Kiyoko until he had finished, and handed Kiyoko the cup, and moved to the pastry shelf.

“Do you know him Kiyoko-san?”  
“Hm? Oh yes, this is Semi Eita, we knew each other in our third year at high school. And no-one makes coffee quite like Semi. Also you can just call me Kiyoko, Suga.”

Semi had returned to the counter with the paper bag in his hand in time to catch the last part of the discussion.

“Suga? As in, the AI suga?”

“Yes, i am spending time with him to get a better understanding of his psyche.”

“Woah really? That’s so cool. I’m Semi Eita!”

Suga looked at the guy in front of him, and smiled.

“I’m Sugawara Koushi!”

————————————————————————————————————

“So did you tell Daichi?”

“Um yeah, Kiyoko-san I think I should tell kenma-san that I dreamed.”

“Well if you want to Suga. That sort of dream could be perfectly normal, there is no-one quite like you after all, but we should let Kenma know just so someone else knows.”

“Okay, thanks Kiyoko-san, you’re the coolest!”

Kiyoko blushed slightly and smiled.

“I’ve already told you, you can drop the -san.”

“Okaay!”

Suga found he liked Kiyoko. She was nice, and had a soothing and familiar presence that made Suga feel like she just understood.

Suga had returned to the building once he and Daichi had parted ways, where he had told Kiyoko in more detail about his dream. He couldn’t help but feel like she knew something by the way her eyes had widened by his description of the red head and the sour guy, whoms names had left him, in the way fine details do when it comes to dreams. But he just couldn’t get the thing Daichi said to him before he woke up.

————————————————————————————————————

Suga wandered into the study space at the robotics department.  
It was a large open space, lined with computers and tables, with beanbags and kitchen appliances scattered around. The robotics department was known quite well for the fact that its students spent more time at the building than they did at their dorms, this was very much true when it came to Kenma, so Suga reasoned to himself that Kenma was most likely here of all places.

He took in the large space, students and teachers scattered around, and let out a breath. No need to be nervous, just Kenma. Kenma, essentially his creator. Kenma, who can have him shut down and scrapped in an instant. Suga felt his ‘heart’ race. 

He was walking forward even quicker now, eyes diverted to the ground, speed walking along to his panicked thoughts. 

Until he felt himself collide with someone.

He stumbled back, immediately about to apologise, when he noticed who he had knocked down. The dark hair with blonde tips, and cat like eyes were a dead giveaway.

Kenma.

Suga sprinted forward, and helped Kenma up from the ground, Kenma muttering a thanks. His bright eyes flashing when he noticed it was Suga, and suddenly giving Sugawara his full attention.

“Suga. Are you here for me or someone else-?”

“N-no don’t worry, I’m here for you.”  
Suga said, rubbing a hand against the back of his head and smiling sheepishly.

“You see, i wanted to talk to you about something…”

“Hmm?”

“I uh, can we go somewhere more private?”

“Oh, sure. Just follow me.”

Kenma turned sharply, heading back the way he came, and dipping away from the modern study hall and into a hallway, lined with doors into classrooms and labs.  
Suga walked about two steps behind him, looking around the pathway, making notes of where everything was, for later reference. He noted a familiar hallway branching off the current one, which Suga knew to lead to his labroom. 

They passed the branch off, and walked for another minute before Kenma turned sharply into a room, Suga following closely behind.

Suga looked around the large space, which appeared to be some kind of staff room of sorts. It had an oven, what appeared to be a small lab branching off, and couches. Almost like a smaller version of the study space they were in just before. 

Kenma relaxed into one of the couches, and curled slightly into himself, kind of like a cat, and waved a hand at the seat next to him, which Suga strolled to, and sat in.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”   
Kenma said with a blank and almost bored face.

“Ok so, how do i put this,,, uhm, I’ve been having…”

“What?”

“Well, last night, uhm, when i returned to my room? And went into rest mode, i um, dreamed?”

“Ok and?”

“W-what?”

“There are a lot of things that you should be able to do that we are unaware of.”

“Huh?”

“I am honestly not very surprised. I mean, I wondered if you could, but it was pretty much guaranteed. It’s probably the way your brain has decided to presses information.”

“But, i didn’t dream about the day. Or anything I thought during the day, and I believe that dreams are usually supposed to have some link to previous events.”

“Well it was your first day, so maybe your mind just didn’t have much to work with? I take it that you just dreamed bits and pieces and tiny details of the day, so if that’s it then i will ju-”

“No! That’s not it…”

Kenma’s eyes widened, and suddenly directed all attention to Sugawara.

“Then what did you dream about?”  
He asked, almost sounding… scared, or even like he was anticipating something.

“I-i dreamt about… other people, from my perspective, but i had no control over what i said, almost like a…”

“Script?”

“Yes, and these people, I had never met them before! Yet i was acting as if i had known them for a long time, and it felt like i had known them for a long time.”

Kenma’s eyes flashed.  
“Was there anyone you recognised?”

“Um, yes. The last part of the dream was more vivid, and I felt, free. Like the script was gone. And i was with Sawamura san, and he told me that i wasn’t Suga. And how are you so unfazed by this?”

Kenma looked away.

“Well, we’ve never had a robot with the same level of thought as you do. So uh, it’s interesting to hear what you have to say, so of course I’m interested. But I'm sure it’s no big deal. If you want I can go in and limit what I believe is causing you to dream?”

Suga thought to himself. Did he really want to lose these dreams? No. He didn’t. They made him feel connected to something other than himself and the nearest wifi. He had to keep dreaming. They were important, he could feel it.

“No, I want to keep them.”

Kenma smiled, as if that was the intended result, and Suga couldn’t get over the feeling that he had just passed a test.

And to Kenma, he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ughhhhhhhhh i am so sorry this took so long to get up!  
> I’m trying to set this up so there’s one chapter a week, but sometimes there might be a week or two between updates.   
> The song for this chapter is Dream sweet in sea major by miracle musical.
> 
> Also do you ever just put wayyy to much focus on one small background plot than you shouldv’e and what was supposed to be a small detail ends up coming across as too important so you have to completely readjust the plot so the focus is now something you didn’t intend for it to be? Cause uh yeah -_-  
> I hope you enjoyed :)


	5. dreamless sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, it’s me ^_^  
> sorry it took me so long to post this. I’ve been procrastinating the actual uploading part of this chapter. I’m sorry it’s slightly shorter than usual, but you are in luck! for the next chapter there is going to be a new POV, and the focus will probably be on them instead of the resident roboto!

Oikawa Tooru.

Genius volleyball setter.

Most popular person on campus.

And in love with his best friend.

God, what was he going to do? 

Oikawa sat in his room, decorated with glow in the dark stars and an impressive amount of Neil deGrasse Tyson posters, overlooking an obscene amount of lava lamps.

Uh oh, looks like an internal monologue/flashback!

He didn’t know when he first began to have feelings for his unattainable best friend. Was it when they went adventuring as kids, and Iwa-chan had promised to always be Oikawa’s knight? Or was it when Iwaizumi had rejected a girl in middle school, saying that his best friend was all he needed and would ever need. Or could it have even been when they first met, at that creek in the forest, and Iwaizumi had asked if he was some kind of fairy. 

He sighed as he remembered the shock when he saw that he was not alone in the forest that resided a distance away from his house. The strange boy was ogling him, and Oikawa remembers nearly slipping off the mossy log he was standing on when he heard the strange boy timidly ask him a question that would signify the beginning of a beautiful friendship. “Are you a fairy?”

Oikawa may not have known exactly when he began to love Hajime, but he sure as hell remembers when he realised he liked Iwa-chan in a way that wasn’t ‘just friends’.

He remembers rather well when he realised. It was the first year of high school. If he remembers correctly, it was June, and it had begun to rain quite a bit.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi had decided to stay late after practice, so Oikawa could work on his serves, and Iwaizumi on his spikes. A storm was raging outside the gym, and Oikawa shivered with the thought of walking home through that. Iwa-Chan was lucky, he was going to be driven, cause his younger sister was being picked up from a dance recital, and Aoba Johsai was near the hall, so it wasn’t much trouble.  
Oikawa thought to his family. The only person who would notice his disappearance would be his older sister, Miyoko, who actually cared about him. Though she was the only one at home at the moment, due to their parents being away on yet another business trip. Seriously, it was almost like they spent more time overseas than home. Actually, now that he did the basic addition, it was true.

Oikawa served the ball with more power than usual, creating a loud smack as it collided with the floor, just before it reached the net. Dammit.

Oikawa had had enough, and went to the bench to grab a drink, and in his anger, did not notice Iwaizumi who was already sitting on the hard bench.

Oikawa rested his head on his hands, as he fell deeper and deeper into the swirling thoughts whizzing through his head. 

It was all too unfair. Why did his knee have to be absolutely fucked? Why was his parents no more helpful than his shoddy knee? Why was his life so utterly unfair? A few tears fell from his eyes as he dwelled on his circumstances.

He was rather forcefully pulled out of his downward spiral by the hand now on his shoulder. His head shot up, almost whacking Iwaizumi in the face. He turned his head to Iwaizumi, tears now visible and his face sweaty and snotty.

“You okay?”

Oikawa stared at Hajime, considering his question, practically forgetting his previous thoughts. He had never really asked Oikawa if he was okay. Wait . That’s a lie. Iwaizumi was always asking if he was okay. Always in his own way. You good? Need a break? What do you need?  
What do you want to say?  
Is it your knee?  
What’s going through your head?  
Iwaizumi was asking. All the goddamn time, and Oikawa had just never really noticed. Even the way he tilted his head in a questioning manner. Oikawa teared up more.  
I don't think I like him the way I’m supposed to. Welp.

“IWAAAAAAA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  
Tears burst from his eyes as he lunged at Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi's face paled as he quickly tried to put distance between him and Oikawa, and failed.

However Iwaizumi smiled as Oikawa snivelled into his shirt dramatically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suga put the can of red bull next to Kenma, and stared down at the pudding head as he frantically clacked on his rainbow keyboard, his eyes locked on the left monitor which was set next to three others.

Suga started, slightly terrified, as he watched Kenma grip the can, claw it open and chug it without breaking contact with the monitor and keyboard. 

After their talk, Kenma had asked if Suga had anything to do, which Suga didn’t. So Kenma had asked if he could help him do some of his work, and Suga had agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Kenma stopped clicking at the keyboard, and he slouched in on himself, letting out an exhale, then clicked one final button and submitted his code. His cat-like eyes switched to Suga, who jumped at suddenly having the attention on him. Kenma’s eyes studied Sugawara, and Suga shivered, not liking the critical eye on him.

“Y-you done?”

Kenma nodded and turned back to the computer setup, and calmly finished his red bull, before pushing himself backwards on his swivel chair and got up, walking past Suga without a glance, pulling out his phone, shooting a quick text to someone. Just before he reached the door, he stopped, and looked at Suga.

“You coming? Let’s get something to eat. I know a place.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
(Just after the coffee scene)

As Semi waved at Suga (holy shit i met the robot!) and ‘Shimi shimi’ as Tendou nicknamed her, who had just now coincidentally exited the staff room from his break.  
Goddamit, he was not paid enough to deal with this.

Tendou pointed at Semi and laughed.

“What have you seen to have a face like that semi-chan? Oh wait, that’s your normal face!”

Semi just shook his head, smiling just a little at Tendou’s joke. God he was ready to get a bat. Deep breaths.

“Sorry, i was just talking with kiyo. You’ll never guess who she brought along.”

“Bet. So you saw shimi? And who would she have brought with her… was it Ushi? Or maybe chichi chan? Or…. could it have been…. oh! That’s it! It was that new robot everyone’s buzzing about! What was his name…?”

“How did you- never mind. Sugawara Koushi. It’s name is Suga.”

“Oh! That’s the shit!. You know, he may not be an ‘it’ for long.” Tendou said with an odd smirk, and turned away, and walked straight out the door.

Semi pondered what Tendou had just said. ‘May not be an it for long…’  
His eyes widened with realisation.

“TENDOU GET BACK HERE YOUR SHIFTS NOT OVER YET AND I WILL NOT BE COVERING FOR YOU. YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE HALFWAY THROUGH A SHOFT TO MAKE YOURSELF SEEM MYSTERIOUS!! ”

But Tendou had already left. 

“Kiyooooookkooooooooo-saaaaaaaaaan?????!!!!!!!!!”

And it appeared he had tipped off them before he had left.  
Welp, guess it’s time for an impromptu break. He waved at Ennoshita who had just walked through the front of the store. Just in time for his shift, and to look after the idiots.

“Have fun with them shita.”

“What?!. Thanks a lot Semi.”

Semi winked at him, and strutted out the door and into the cool fresh air for his break.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Kiyoko, later.

Kiyoko sat at her desk in the lecture hall, listening to some balding man talking about whatever. She would usually be listening intently and taking notes, but something much more prominent on her mind. And for once it was not to do with Yachi, who she would be seeing on the weekend. It was instead about the resident robot that had captivated her curiosity. She thought about the dreams Suga had had.

Kenma was right. That boy really was some kind of genius.  
But how had he known that…? He worked in coding, not theoretical physics and scientific theory. That was more Oikawa. Could Oikawa also know? No, while Oikawa could act, he certainly couldn’t keep something as astronomical as this from Iwaizumi, and Iwaizumi would’ve definitely spilled to Daichi, who would’ve panicked.

All that was certain was that Kenma, herself, and soon possibly Suga that knew the truth. But then came the question about who had created all of that evidence that They had found? It was nameless, and neither Kenma nor Kiyoko knew who had written the very evidence that spurred their theory.

She thought about how much Kenma had planned and strategized since he first became aware of it. If his story was accurate, he had been planning this since before university, possibly when he was in his first year of high school, and perhaps he had known since before then.

She wondered if she should give a hint to the others involved, who had no idea. They deserved to know, but at the same time, it was very hard to swallow the truth, and sometimes a sweet lie was better than a scary truth.

She was pulled out of her stupeur when she noticed the person next to her standing up, and as she looked around, she realised that everyone was leaving.  
She calmly gathered her belongings, stood up, and left the lecture hall, turning off the lights as she exited. For she was the last person out.

Walking out of the area, she pulled out her phone, and checked her notifications, seeing a text from oikawa whining about how nice ‘Iwa-chans’ arms are. She swiped past it, and saw another text, this time from Kenma.

Existential dread: moving on to the next phase. With him now, meet us at Sakanoshita.

She quickly typed out a reply.

Existential dread: moving on to the next phase. With him now, meet us at Sakanoshita.

Yolko: aight. Be there soon, should i ‘accidentally’ show him the photos?

Andddd no response. Kiyoko was not surprised.

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Kenma stood outside of Sakanoshita, looking at the sidewalk that eventually led to the science department, where Kiyoko was probably coming from.

He turned his head towards Sugawara, who was in the store, choosing some snacks.

That would probably take a while, cause Sugawara had never eaten before, and while he didn’t need to, he could. He grinned at the stressing robot, who had no idea what he liked or what he should get. 

Kenma pushed through the door into Sakanoshita, and walked up to the tiny aisle that Sugawara was in.

Wordlessly, Kenma grabbed some ‘Super Spicy Mapo-Tofu!!’ And handed it to Suga, who turned to him questioningly.

“Just a guess. Who knows, you might like it?.”  
Kenma said, without glancing at Suga. 

Suga nodded watching Kenma move to the sweet section and picked up an apple pie, and got some tenmusa. Suga looked down at the package, and smiled.

He walked up to the counter with Kenma, and stood as Kenma handed some money over to the cashier, a tired looking man with dyed blonde hair. Kenma seemed to know him, as they exchanged some small talk as he scanned the items.

Suga walked over the windowed door, and looked out at the passing students, some of which were counting spare change at the bottom of their wallets, probably checking to see if they had enough for a snack before whatever they had next.

He eventually noticed a head of familiar straight black hair. Was that Kiyoko? No, that wasn't her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sigh.  
> thanks for sticking it out, and reading this :)  
> you all make me feel not-small, and you have no idea how happy it makes me when you comment and express your thoughts on this, just the fact that there are people reading this makes me smile :D please bear with me until I can get the next chapter out!


	6. note:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> whoops

hey there everyone!!   
thank you so much to everyone for reading this fic and for anyone who has been really waiting for the next chapter. i have good news and bad news.

i am no longer writing this exact fanfiction. HOWEVER, HAVE NO FEAR. i still have plans for this plot and i have no intention of letting it go to waste ;) 

the problem i had with this fic is that i really didn’t plan it well, with only the beginning and the ending cemented in my mind. i thought i would work out what would happen in the middle when i got to it, only to find out i had no inspiration.

over the melbourne quarentine i used this fic as a passtime, however my mental health took a turn for the worse, and i lost all motivation for anything but the mandatory schoolwork. those who follow my art account (@ojinxx on insta) probably noticed this as-well. now that the holidays are here, i really want to recover the storyline i had for this, and publish it once i’ve actually worked it out.

so uh, keep an eye out :)

**Author's Note:**

> If you have read my other fic, please promise not to forget me, I should tell you that, yes , that is connected to this story. It probably won’t fit as well as it did with my original plot for this, but that’s ok. The plot has changed a lot since I wrote that, and it will be explained how it fits in with this story. I’ll probably end up rewriting it to fit the current plot better so keep an eye out for that :)  
> Also thank you so much for reading! I’m not much of a writer, I draw mostly. But I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a fic for a while now, so since it’s quarantine, what s stopping me ?  
> Also all of the chapters will be named after songs, this chapter is it’s late by a beacon school.


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